It is not only the planes themselves that have an impact on the environment. The ways in which they are regulated also needs to be taken into consideration as this can determine where aircraft can fly, how often, and if they meet a set of standards. I am going to look at the environmental impacts of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement, which was written about by Mayor and Tol (2009). In addressing the environmental concerns, I also hope to make apparent the complexities in co-ordinating global air travel.
The EU-US Open Skies Agreement was launched in 2007 and came into effect the following year. It had the aim of making aviation a more levelled playing field between Europe and the USA, two of the largest global aviation markets. It was to remove bilateral agreements in place between the USA and countries of Europe, and replace it with a single aviation agreement. It was hailed from and economic and financial point of view - but its environmental impacts have not been extensively examined - which is where the article (Mayor and Tol 2009) comes in handy!
The agreement allows European and American carriers to fly to any city in the opposite continent, from any city in their own. This liberalisation allows for greater competition to and from both small airports and larger hubs. Before this for example British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were the only two British carriers entitled to fly from London Heathrow to JFK in New York (Heathrow's most flown route). Such an agreement would undoubtedly result in increased passenger flows and traffic. More details of the agreement can be found in this Guardian article.
The paper hints at greater carbon dioxide emissions that will make climate policy objectives increasingly difficult to achieve, especially considering that only until recently was aviation included into European emission reduction policies. A model to predict future scenarios resulting from increased tourist travel and lower plane fares as a result of the agreement was used. It found that the global emissions will increase will be smaller than the increase in transatlantic travel, due to a reduction in travel to other places, as a result of more transatlantic flights.
Do not unfasten your seat belt to go and book your dream holiday to America just yet though! A single person on a round trip transatlantic flight from New York to Europe will produce 1 to 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to this article from the New York Times. It discusses aviation emission reduction policies - where it describes the EU emissions trading scheme prohibition act of 2011 as a "somewhat lonely attempt to rein in planet-warming emissions." It is safe to say they weren't on board!
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| Open Skies: Mon - Fri 7am - 10pm Sat 7am - 11pm Sun 9am - 6pm |
It's interesting to see the EU and USA working on common policy together! In your opinion do you think that flight routes should be restricted again? Does the spread of flights across the continents reduce congestion and local pollution at a city level?
ReplyDeleteI personally don't think flights should be restricted again, this way is a lot fairer as it promotes healthy competition and keeps fares lower then if flights were regulated, and allows more point to point flights. I believe it is both good and bad in terms of congestion and local pollution, it takes some of the strain away from larger airports, however there is always going to be a demand to fly to them - as is with Heathrow. Increasing (perhaps longer haul flights?) from smaller airport brings in environmental problems and congestion to these towns/ smaller cities as they seek to expand too. I don't think there's a definitive answer as to what is right here?!
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